Varian Establishes Subsidiary in South Korea

August 23, 2012 — Varian Medical Systems is establishing an in-country subsidiary in South Korea. Varian Medical Systems Korea, based in Seoul, will support the launch and rollout of the company's TrueBeam treatment system while, over time, providing a local base for all the company's business units.

"South Korea is a vibrant and growing market and we felt the time was right to establish a local office to provide a higher level of local installation, service and technical support for our customers, particularly the growing number of TrueBeam customers," said Patrick Joda, Varian's worldwide head of customer support services. "Longer term, we intend to use the site for an in-country spare parts bank and potentially as a local language training and education base."

The new office will also provide local support for Seoul-based HDX Corp., which has distributed Varian's products in South Korea for 30 years. HDX remains the primary sales and distribution channel for all Varian's systems in the country.

With more than 100 linear accelerators installed in South Korea, Varian systems comprise 65 percent of the installed base of treatment machines. The country's first TrueBeam system was installed at Asan Hospital in Seoul in February this year and is currently providing advanced radiotherapy and radiosurgery treatments for numerous cancer patients. Several other TrueBeam installations are imminent in the country.

Henry Ford Hospital's ViewRay MRIdian linear accelerator system allows real-time MRI-guided radiotherapy. Shown is the support staff for this system. In the center of the photo is Benjamin Movsas, M.D., chair of radiation oncology at Henry Ford Cancer Institute. Second from the right is Carri Glide-Hurst, Ph.D., director of translational research, radiation oncology.